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Mikael Asplund, Trishan R. De Lanerolle, Christopher Fei, Prasanna Gautam, Ralph A. Morelli, Simin Nadjm-Tehrani, et al. (2010). Wireless ad hoc dissemination for search and rescue. In C. Zobel B. T. S. French (Ed.), ISCRAM 2010 – 7th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Defining Crisis Management 3.0, Proceedings. Seattle, WA: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: In search and rescue scenarios local information on victims and other finds needs to be disseminated rapidly to other rescue workers and team leaders. However, post disaster scenarios may imply the collapse of information infrastructure including cellular communication and Internet connectivity. Even if we consider wireless ad hoc communication as a means of information dissemination we should count on frequent loss of connectivity in the network due to unpredictable mobility and sparse network topologies. In this paper we present the realization of an existing manycast protocol (random walk gossip) on commodity handheld devices running the Android platform. This communication mode is used to demonstrate the potential for distributed information dissemination on victims and finds. The application layer is an adaptation of an existing surveying information tool (POSIT) which is now fully decentralized and relies on text communication to achieve energy efficiency.
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Rui Chen, Thirumurugan Thiyagarajan, Raghav H. Rao, & JinKyu LeeK. (2010). Design of a FOSS system for flood disaster management. In C. Zobel B. T. S. French (Ed.), ISCRAM 2010 – 7th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Defining Crisis Management 3.0, Proceedings. Seattle, WA: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: In this paper we study how information technology solutions can be used when disasters strike. This research in progress focuses on flood disasters and it proposes the design for flood disaster management. To increase the utility of the disaster management information system, we follow the free and open source system (FOSS) concept. Informed by the management tasks of flood response, we elaborate the system requirements and key functionalities. The system has received preliminary evaluation by the domain experts and is currently under further development.
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Trishan R. De Lanerolle, Ralph A. Morelli, Norman Danner, Danny Krizanc, Gary Parker, & Ozgur Izmirli. (2008). Creating an academic community to build Humanitarian FOSS: A progress report. In B. V. de W. F. Fiedrich (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2008 – 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 337–341). Washington, DC: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: This paper describes The Humanitarian FOSS Project, a National Science Foundation funded effort to help revitalize undergraduate computing education by getting students and faculty involved in building open source software that benefits the community.
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Trishan R. De Lanerolle, William V. Anderson, Sam DeFabbia-Kane, Eli Fox-Epstein, Dimitar Gochev, & Ralph A. Morelli. (2010). Development of a virtual dashboard for event coordination between multiple groups. In C. Zobel B. T. S. French (Ed.), ISCRAM 2010 – 7th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Defining Crisis Management 3.0, Proceedings. Seattle, WA: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Collabbit is an open source web-based application that aims to increase emergency management efficiency through distributed asynchronous information sharing. The software is targeted to loosely coupled non-profit disaster relief agencies that coordinate response to and recovery from disasters. Disaster relief agencies create a common operating picture of an emergency incident through remotely posted incident updates. Individual users subscribe to topics of interest and receive near-instantaneous updates on those topics. Where information is lacking, users may access a topically organized contact registry. This report describes the development and deployment of the Collabbit project.
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Wendy A. Edwards, Awais Vaid, & Ian S. Brooks. (2010). INDICATOR: An open-source cyberenvironment for biosurveillance. In C. Zobel B. T. S. French (Ed.), ISCRAM 2010 – 7th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Defining Crisis Management 3.0, Proceedings. Seattle, WA: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: In this paper, we discuss the architecture and implementation of INDICATOR, a free open source cyberenvironment for disease surveillance. Biosurveillance entails numerous tasks, including data acquisition and preparation, analysis, and reporting. These tasks can be modeled and executed as a workflow. Workflows encapsulate data, tools, and metadata. Cyberenvironments provide integrated, user-friendly sets of tools and services to marshal resources and help researchers analyze, visualize, and model their data. INDICATOR uses an Eclipse-based cyberenvironment that supports interactive workflow creation, connection to data and event streams, provenance tracking, and reuse of workflows and fragments to acquire, analyze, and visualize public health data.
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Gordon Gow, Peter Anderson, & Nuwan Waidyanatha. (2007). Hazard warnings in Sri Lanka: Challenges of internetworking with Common Alerting Protocol. In K. Nieuwenhuis P. B. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Intelligent Human Computer Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM 2007 Academic Proceedings Papers (pp. 281–293). Delft: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: There is a growing call for the use of open source content standards for all-hazards, all-media alert and notification systems. This paper presents findings on the implementation of Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) as a content standard for a community-based hazard information network in Sri Lanka. CAP is being deployed as part of the HazInfo project, which has established last-mile networking capability for 32 tsunami-affected villages in Sri Lanka in order to study the suitability of various Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) for a standards-based community hazard information system. Results to date suggest that the basic internetworking arrangement at lower technical layers has proven to be reasonably robust and reliable but that a key challenge remains in the upper layers of application software and content provision. This is evident in the apparent difficulties faced when implementing CAP messaging over multiple last-mile systems that include commercial satellite and terrestrial network technologies (C/L/X-Band, GSM, and CDMA in modes of voice and text). Lessons learned from silent tests and live exercises point to several key bottlenecks in the system where the integrity of CAP messages is compromised due to problems associated with software interoperability or direct human intervention. The wider implication of this finding is that content standards by themselves are not sufficient to support appropriate and timely emergency response activities. Those working with content standards for hazard information systems must consider closely the interoperability issues at various layers of interconnectivity.
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Syed Imran, Franclin Foping, Ioannis M. Dokas, & John Feehan. (2010). Towards domain specific modeling approach in early warning system. In C. Zobel B. T. S. French (Ed.), ISCRAM 2010 – 7th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Defining Crisis Management 3.0, Proceedings. Seattle, WA: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: It is of practical significance and great value to design and develop a novel Early Warning System (EWS), which will be used by the personnel of institutions involved in the drinking water delivery governance model of Ireland. In order to help the users of our EWS in representing and codifying their knowledge on the complex coincidences that may drive Water Treatment Plants (WTP) to failures or to hazardous states we propose in this paper a novel approach of using Domain Specific Modeling (DSM) in the domain of EWS for Water Treatment Plants. The novelty of our DSM approach also lies in providing a standalone open source software application rendering profiling of the water utilities, early warning signals, monitoring mechanisms of signals along with capability of assessing the “tendency” of a WTP towards failure, given a set of observed early warning signals.
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Ralph A. Morelli, Heidi Ellis, Trishan R. De Lanerolle, Jonathan Damon, & Christopher Walti. (2007). Can student-written software help sustain humanitarian FOSS? In K. Nieuwenhuis P. B. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Intelligent Human Computer Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM 2007 Academic Proceedings Papers (pp. 41–44). Delft: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: This paper describes a Humanitarian FOSS (free and open source software) project carried out by a team of students and faculty at Trinity College. The project outcome was a volunteer management module that has recently been incorporated into the Sahana Disaster Recovery IT System. The Humanitarian FOSS movement is based on two premises: (1) that quality humanitarian software can be built and given freely to governments and organizations in need of such software ; and (2) that the FOSS development model can successfully harness the contributions of humanitarian-minded IT and computing professionals. The Trinity Sahana project introduces a third premise: (3) that students and faculty whose main goals are educational and pedagogical can contribute successfully to the Humanitarian FOSS movement. This paper examines these three premises focusing on the question raised by the third.
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Gerhard Wickler, & Stephen Potter. (2010). Standard Operating Procedures: Collaborative development and distributed use. In C. Zobel B. T. S. French (Ed.), ISCRAM 2010 – 7th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Defining Crisis Management 3.0, Proceedings. Seattle, WA: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: This paper describes a system that supports the distributed development and deployment of Standard Operating Procedures. The system is based on popular, open-source wiki software for the SOP development, and the I-X task-centric agent framework for deployment. A preliminary evaluation using an SOP for virtual collaboration is described and shows the potential of the approach.
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